There is no possible doubt: for the Paris 2024 Games, fencing won the jackpot. The OCOG awarded it one of the most iconic sites of the system, the Grand Palais. In the heart of the capital. A stone's throw from the banks of the Seine and the Champs-Elysées.
With such a setting, and the prospect of full stands from the first to the last day (fencing is one of the sports “ sold out » for the second phase of ticket sales), the discipline expects a lot from the Olympic and Paralympic meeting.
Philippe Fadeau (photo above), in charge of the fencing and wheelchair fencing competitions for the organizing committee, answered questions from FrancsJeux. It continues the series of interviews with COJO Paris 2024 sports managers.
FrancsJeux : Your life before COJO Paris 2024?
Philippe Fadeau : I spent more than fifteen years at the French Fencing Federation (FFE), where I was responsible for events and communications. More than fifteen very good years, including responsibility for the organization every year of the two World Cup events organized in France. I also participated in the organization of the world championships in 2010 in Paris, at the Grand Palais. Before that, I practiced fencing, but at a modest level.
Your past experience of the Olympic Games?
I attended the London Games in 2012 as a spectator. But I had the chance to discover behind the scenes of the fencing competition thanks to my contacts with the manager of the discipline. My other Olympic experience, more professional, dates back to the Tokyo 2020 Games. I participated in the observer program, which allowed me to be in complete immersion with the organizing team of the fencing events, in supporting the sports manager on a daily basis. The experience was very enriching, it still serves me today on a daily basis. I was struck by the level of detail and service. The organization is very fine, incomparable with any other event.
A memorable memory from the Games?
I have two. The first dates back to the Seoul 1988 Games. They were organized in September/October. I watched some tests on television before going to school. I was very struck by Jean-François Lamour’s victory in the individual saber. A Frenchman on the podium, the Marseillaise, in a country so far from France... The image was very strong. My story with fencing began there. Much more recently, the Tokyo 2020 Games. I was able to rub shoulders on the competition field with the French fencers that I regularly met at the Federation. I shared their joys and their disappointments. Romain Cannone's victory in the individual epee was a great moment. It was his day.
The file at the top of the pile on your desk?
Preparing for the operational fencing test scheduled for this summer at the Games site, the Grand Palais. We will have a competition simulation, but above all it will be a technical test, to test the competition field, the flows, the results system... The Grand Palais will still be under construction, we will have to adapt. These conditions will be restrictive, but they also promise to be very interesting. This operational test, organized during the Games period, will be an opportunity to implement the innovative system designed to cover the glass roof of the Grand Palais. It will avoid the risk of shadows on the stage and the dazzling of the fencers. We have no doubt about the process, but the test will allow it to be installed and adapted to the Grand Palais.
The fencing and wheelchair fencing site: its assets, the challenge in the run-up to the Games?
The Grand Palais, in the heart of Paris. A historic place, one of the most beautiful sites of the Games. For fencing, having it for the Olympic and Paralympic events is incredible luck. But this choice is also a form of recognition of what the discipline has brought to the Olympic history of France. The Grand Palais was already used for the world fencing championships in 2010, but the available spaces were very different. Next year we will have a brand new Grand Palais. The challenge is immense, because the site is not at all designed to host Olympic and Paralympic competitions. It is on several levels, a constraint that must be taken into account for wheelchair athletes. We will have to adapt, respect the site, find innovative solutions, but while meeting the requirements of a high-level competition.
Paris 2024 will be a success for fencing yes…
The priority is the athletes. The 2024 Paris Games will be a success for fencing if we manage to place them in the best conditions to perform. Personally, they will be a success if, in 20 or 30 years, fencing at the Grand Palais is among the images and moments that will have marked the Paris 2024 Games. I would like the discipline to bring its share of heritage to the collective imagination.
